The 2023 NFL season marked Darren Waller’s first with the New York Giants. And it could be his last. The Pro Bowl tight end was considering retiring immediately after the year, according to the New York Post. Waller has not decided whether he will play in 2024 as he is currently weighing his options.
“I’m undecided at the moment,” Waller recently told The Athletic. “It’s really the idea of signing up for another journey. It’s hard, it’s long, it takes a lot. And if you’re not fully involved in every part of the process, it’s going to be difficult .I feel like at the end of the day you’re doing a disservice to the guys if you’re not fully involved. So those are the kinds of things I take into account.
Waller says he’ll make a decision “very soon,” but don’t expect one until free agency begins next week. Waller, 31, was one of New York’s top offseason additions a year ago, arriving via trade for a third-round pick. However, injuries limited his availability for a third straight season, and he told some members of the Giants organization that he was considering hanging up his cleats, according to the Post.
“I’m in the middle. It could go either way,” Waller told The Athletic. “It’s just about putting everything aside and asking yourself, ‘What are the real pros and cons of starting this journey again, and what do I really want from it?’ I don’t feel like I’ve gotten to the point where it’s like a concrete answer that I can say, ‘Okay, this is my truth.'”
There have been rumors recently that Waller is a potential salary cap casualty, but the Giants have no plans to release him, the Post reports, hoping he can stay healthy and “be a contributor most important on offense” in 2024. Waller is technically under contract through 2026, thanks to a three-year extension he originally signed with the Las Vegas Raiders, due $14 million this upcoming season.
When active, Waller has been one of the NFL’s most stable pass catchers at his position. Before recording 52 receptions for 552 yards in 12 games with the Giants, he spent five years with the Raiders, twice eclipsing 90 catches and 1,000 yards as one of the team’s top receivers. Originally a sixth-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 2015, he missed at least five games due to injury in each of his last three seasons, appearing in only nine games his final year with the Raiders.